


A big life in a small town

by Stellacarlberg



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M, Matchmaking, Modern Era, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:00:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25598452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stellacarlberg/pseuds/Stellacarlberg
Summary: You didn’t have to be new in town to think the first day of school sucks. It came at the end of every summer break, the quietly looming pile of anxiety nearing closer with every warm day passing. And now it was here.A year in the life of a group of students from Duane High School, told through many different perspectives.
Relationships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly (eventual), Kid Blink/Mush Meyers, Romeo/Specs (Newsies)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	1. Davey and the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!! 
> 
> I've had this idea in my mind for _ages_ , and I started writing this fic earlier this spring but I have procastinated actually editing it, because, well, anxiety and stuff. 
> 
> This will be a fanfiction where every chapter will be it's own independent story told within the same universe. Most of the chapters can be read seperately, even though some themes and longer plots will stretch over multiple chapters. 
> 
> (I guess you can think of it like a sitcom??? In a way??? Wow we finally got a Newsies sitcom and it's in written format, how modern)
> 
> Anyway uhhh enjoy!!!

David had watched enough high-school movies to know how this worked. 

Sarah had complained, screamed, cried and even tried the silent treatment, but their parents hadn’t budged. It was all “This move will be good for us,” and “You will find new friends.” Sarah hadn’t believed them, (in all fairness neither had David, though he had been less vocal about it) and she had made it very clear that she wasn’t going to support this sudden surge of cliché lines directly taken from an coming-of-age-movie from the early 2000s. It didn’t matter, because their parents had made up their mind and convinced the kids to not run away before giving the new town a chance. “I’ll give it two hours”, Sarah had muttered to David.

The town looked a lot like the old one, which only built onto David’s conviction that all middle class, suburban places were actually made from the same template. Grassy lawns in perfect condition, minivans parked in front of houses in diverse but not too out-there colours (A muddy, greyish green seemed to be in fashion). As David stared at what was supposed to be their new home, he wondered silently if Sarah had been right to put up a fight. 

He walked into the house with a sigh. 

Dinner that night was stressful. David’s dad was on the phone with construction-workers and other important people who were supposed to help them move into this house. Sarah sat cross-legged on the cough, silently on her phone while not eating her pizza, instead most likely texting her friends back home to complain and tell them she missed them. Les had already fallen asleep beside her, snoring with his new Nintendo Switch beside him, still turned on. Their mother tried to make small-talk to lighten the mood, but it was difficult to get the family-dinner feeling when they didn’t have a table to sit at, yet. 

“Are you excited for school?” Esther asked in a light tone. David shrugged. The slice of pizza seemed to grow bigger as he chewed. They had passed the school when they drove through town, and it looked like David had expected it to: Big and filled with dread and anxiety.

“Well, I am excited,” Sarah said and looked up with a wide grin. “I am _totally_ gonna join every club, and, like, make so many new friends. When’s tryouts for the cheer-squad?”

“Oh, great!” David said and smiled when he caught on to his sister’s tone of voice. “Mom and dad can come to all of our games, once I get on the football-team.”

Their mother huffed and gave them a look that tried to be stern but only managed to show her tired disappointment. “There’s no need for sarcasm,” she said. She looked from David to Sarah and leaned forward, clasping her hands together and pursing her lips. “Listen to me, I know you two aren’t thrilled about this. I understand you might think this is the end of the world. But your father and I made a decision that we thought was the best for the family. And whether or not you like it, this is how it’s gonna be. You have to make the best of the situation, and I think the first step is to realize that we aren’t doing this to make your life miserable.” When they didn’t answer her, she sighed. “Okay, well, Les is also starting a new school, and he will follow you two. It’s up to you to set a good example for your little brother, so… Can you try?”

David and Sarah briefly made eye-contact, and quickly looked away. Their mom knew their weakness, and in David’s opinion it was unfair of her to use it this early into the game. 

“I will,” Sarah said at last, and continued before their mother could do more than give her a grateful look. “But I need you to understand that this whole move will take up an entire chapter of my autobiography, and I can’t promise you I’ll paint you in a good light.”

The joke wasn’t very clever or funny, but it gave their mother an out of the conversation. David knew that Sarah wasn’t this okay with any of this. Either she took the higher rode and let their mother feel like she had come through to them, or she was too tired to continue an argument they hadn’t managed to resolve for four months. Their mother smiled and stroke a gentle hand over Sarah’s cheek. 

“I’ll take Les to bed,” she said and walked over to gently wake Les up. After his groggy questions of where they were, and why they were there, she lead him out of the living-room and up the stairs. 

Sarah stared after her for a minute, lost in thoughts David couldn’t read on her face. 

“You good?” he asked her when the silence had stretched on for too long, even for him. 

“I don’t understand why she isn’t more upset about this,” she said. “It’s her life as well. But she’s fine to drop everything for dad’s job? Very mid-century of her.”

David hesitated. The reason behind the move was simple in theory; their father’s work had offered him a promotion that unfortunately demanded a relocation to a new town a couple of hours away, just far enough that he didn’t want to do the commute every day. 

In reality, the situation was more complicated. It involved multiple new schools for Les during the last couple of years, their mother taking a lot of unpaid time off work to help out as much as she could, and most importantly: their father’s leg that had gotten worse last year and made it difficult for him to go a full work-day of walking. The new job was a desk job, and gave him the opportunity to actually rehabilitate. How much of this Sarah connected to the move, David didn’t know. Perhaps she was very aware of it, but simply put it aside to grieve the life she had been forced to abandon. It was fair, David thought, but only up to a point. He just didn’t know if he was the person to decide where that point were. 

“I think she has a point,” David said at last,voice measured to not make it seem like he was simply taking their mother’s side over Sarah’s. “We’re here, and we can’t change that. What we can change is how we approach the situation from now.”

“Of course,” Sarah said with a small wave of her hand. “I know I’ll be fine, Davey, I know I’ll probably find some people here who aren’t stuck up suburban-people--”

“--What, like you?”

She flipped him off and continued. “My point is, they aren’t honest with us about everything that went into this decision and I find it annoying. It’s a bit like they are just expecting us to follow them without question, like we aren’t old enough to hear the real reasons.”

David raised his eyebrows. “So, what? This is a teenage rebellion-thing?”

Sarah’s mouth quirked up at the edges. “Well, one of us has to.”

They sunk back into a comfortable silence. It took until the pizza was gone and their father had come through to say goodnight before they spoke again. “You think the library at this school will be as good as the one at Roosevelt High?” Sarah asked as they collected the empty boxes in a pile and then sat down again.

David snorted. “I’ll figure it out soon enough. After all, it’s where I’ll be spending most of my lunches, right?”

Sarah didn’t laugh at his self-deprecating tone. “Be serious.”

“I am,” David said. “You know I’m not like you. You’re acting out right now, but give it a few weeks and you’ll find a new group of friends. It’s not that easy for me.”

Sarah bit her lip. “I’m just worried that you’ll…” She hesitated, and David felt his stomach squirm uncomfortably. “That you’ll be alone all year, and then go off to college without having anything here to leave behind.”

“What do you mean? I have you, and mom and dad, and Les--”

“Of course, but…”

David rose from his chair. 

“Davey--”

“No, it’s fine,” he said. “I’ll be fine, Sarah, don’t worry about me.”

Sarah stood up as well. “Of course I worry about you, you’re my brother!”

David sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I’m… I’m going to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

It wasn’t the first time Sarah worried about David, and it wasn’t a complete surprise that her protective streak had come out now. David hadn’t exactly been a social elite for his first three years of high school. He had never been bullied, barely even teased. It had been more like he had been the cute, socially awkward mascot of his homeroom-class. He had friends. Acquaintances. People who invited him places sometimes, who he had said goodbye to before they moved. None of them had texted him yet, though, to ask him how the new house was, or check in with him how he felt about the new school. Not that he had texted them, either. 

David entered his new bedroom and threw himself onto the mattress that was unceremoniously placed in the middle of the floor. As he closed his eyes and forced himself to go to sleep, he wondered how he would ever be able to prove his sister wrong. 

*

The next morning was gray and dull, both outside and inside of the new Jacobs-home. Mayer was cooking breakfast as David came into the kitchen which smelled of burnt eggs. Someone had managed to assemble the table, at least. David sat down next to his brother and sister, who both looked half asleep. 

“I couldn’t find the good frying pan,” Mayer explained as he furiously stirred the pot of misshapen and discolored lumps of scrambled eggs. After a few more seconds he gave up and dumped the content in a trashbag with a sigh. “Damn this.” 

“Me and Davey can go out and buy something,” Sarah said and rose from her chair. Apparently she was much more awake than she had let on. “We drove past a bakery yesterday, can we borrow the car?”

Her offering could simply be her hunger, but it could just as well be a peace-offering to both her father and brother. The promise of fresh bread made Meyer’s shine and he hurried to collect the keys.

As they came outside, Sarah gestured to the car and started leading the way. It must have rained during the night, because when the sun hits the asphalt it glitters. David wondered if he’s supposed to still be mad at her as they got into the car and Sarah started it up. David didn’t even try to get behind the driver’s seat. It’s not that he can’t drive, he got his licence a little over a year ago, but even if Sarah had only driven for a few months she’s much better than he is. And, besides, she actually enjoys it, which is more than could be said about David. 

Ten minutes later they turn into a small street lined with rundown-stores and a quiet lull in the morning air. It was still too early for there to be any sort of rush, and the small bakery is pleasantly cool as they step inside. They are the only people there, expect for a guy in a flour-dusted apron standing behind the counter, talking to a girl sitting at one of the small tables. 

“-No matter, because Race said he would buy us all pizza if we showed up,” the girl said without looking up from the laptop in front of her. From the sound of her tapping, the keys on the laptop should be coming off at any moment from the sheer force and speed of her fingers.

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” the guy answered and continued wiping down the counter. “He still owes me money from taco bell in eighth grade.”

The girl laughed. As the guy noticed David and Sarah’s presence, he straightened up and gave them both a smile that was a bit too wide to truly feel genuine. “Good morning, how can I help you?”

David hung back as Sarah stepped up the counter and asked about the different kinds of bread the bakery offered. The guy went of explaining the difference in texture and taste, gesturing around himself as he spoke. When there was a pause in his monologue, Sarah glanced back at David. “What do you think?” she asked him and he shrugged. “I don’t know, either. I don’t think Les would like any bread with nuts in it, at any rate.”

“Oh, we have this bread but without the nuts,” the guy said and looked around “Oh, wait, shit, maybe we don’t…” He hesitated for a second, as if trying to rack his brain to make sure he didn’t provide misleading information. “No, yes, I think we have some in the back. I think I saw the baker do a couple of loaves this morning. Want me to get it for you?”

“That would be great, yeah,” Sarah said and smiled at him. The guy disappeared through a door behind the counter, and the shop went silent. David sighed and leaned on the counter. Sarah glanced at him. “It’ll be better than dad’s scrambled eggs, at least,” she said. 

“Yeah, of course,” David agreed. “I didn’t mean it, like... “

“I know.”

They both looked at each other for a minute and smiled thinly. 

“You think we could borrow the car the rest of the day?” Sarah asked him. “I wanna go explore the town, check out if there’s anything fun happening. Maybe drive by the school again, I didn’t get a very good look t it yesterday.”

David shrugged dismissively. “Mom and dad will want us to unpack, won’t they? But maybe later, I don’t know.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not dying to check out the library,” Sarah pointed out. 

David tried to fight off the small smile spreading across his face, but to no avail. “True,” he agreed. 

A movement behind him made him glance back. It was the girl with the laptop, who had seemed very caught up in whatever she was doing but was now glancing up at them both. As she saw them noticing her, she smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snoop, I just couldn’t help but overhear. Are you two new here?”

Sarah straightened up while David felt himself shrink a bit. “Yeah,” his fearless sister said. “We got here yesterday, moved here with our family.”

The girl leaned forward. “What grade are you in?”

“I’m gonna be a junior, and Davey is starting senior year.” Sarah smiled and extended her hand towards the girl. “I’m Sarah.”

“Hi, Sarah, I’m Katherine,” the girl answered and took her hand. “I’m also a senior. And so is Jack.” She nodded towards the counter as the guy with the apron came back with two large loaves of bread in his hands. “Say hi, Jack.”

“Oh, we’re introducing ourselves?” Jack asked and put down the breads. “I’m Jack Kelly, nice to meet you two.” 

Jack was shorter than David, but not by much, and the way he carried himself made it seem like he was taller than he actually was. The smile he sent David’s way was crooked and charming, and though smaller than before, it seemed much more real than the customer-smile. David grinned back. 

“I need to get going, Jack,” Katherine said and shut her laptop down. “But I’ll text you about tonight, yeah?”

Jack saluted her. “Yes, ma’am,” he said and blew her a kiss over the counter. “Miss you already.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smile. “I’ll text you later, you doofus.” 

Jack grinned as he rang up the register. “So, those two breads, yeah? That’ll be 7 dollars and fifty cents.”

David and Sarah left the bakery after Jack bid them a cheerful goodbye. As they got out, Katherine was unlocking a bike from the rack outside the bakery. “Hi again,” she said and straightened up. “So, I assume you two are starting Duane High?”

“Yeah, next week,” Sarah answered. “I guess we’re lucky we’re not starting in the middle of the school year.”

“You’re lucky you have each other,” Katherine corrected her and started walking with her bike beside her. “I moved here from New York when I started high school, and I’m an only child, I knew no one. It was horrible.”

Sarah nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, I get that,” she said. “Hey, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what can you do for fun around here?”

Katherine shaded her eyes from the sun and let out a sigh as she thought about it. “Not that much, to be honest, at least not during the summer. But the school actually has a lot of extracurricular activities, so that’s cool.” She hesitated for a second, then smiled sheepishly. “I’m in the student newspaper.”

“Oh, that’s awesome!” Sarah said. “Davey writes, too.” There was a clear hint of pride in her voice.

Katherine beamed at David, who felt his face flush. “Oh, I… Mostly fiction,” he said dismissively. 

“He doesn’t let me read it,” Sarah said with a knowing smile to Katherine, who laughed. The sulking version of his sister David had gotten accustomed to the last few weeks was gone without a trace, and left standing was a charismatic young woman who looked forward to the opportunities moving to a new town would bring. David wanted to roll his eyes at her.

“Awesome, either way,” Katherine nodded and glanced back at Sarah. “I gotta go, but hey, could we exchange numbers?”

Sarah looked taken aback for a second, but then nodded eagerly. “Yes, of course!”

Katherine grinned as she handed Sarah her phone. “Like I said, I know how difficult it is to be new in town, especially in a place like this.” She gestured around. “But I’ll text you, and...”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Sarah said and nodded again. David wondered if her head was gonna fall off. “Thanks. Bye.”

Katherine mounted her bike. “Bye Sarah,” she said and gave a little wave. “Bye Davey.”

David almost did a double take, because he had not expected her to remember his name. Maybe that was his prejudice talking, but Katherine was really good looking, and very charismatic, and everything else a typical popular-girl was. Not to mention her being friend with that Jack-guy, who looked like he could bench press David without breaking a sweat. David just hadn’t really expected either of them to care that much. Was that stupid of him to think? Probably. Katherine was kind, obviously. If that kindness stretched into the school year would remain to see.

“Oh my Gosh, she was so sweet,” Sarah squealed as they got into the nearly boiling-hot car. Her eyes were glittering. “And she’s on the school newspaper, how awesome is that?”

“Pretty awesome,” David agreed. He looked through the bakery’s tall windows and could just make of the figure of Jack piling buns on a rack.

Sarah didn’t say anything else about Katherine, but started up the engine and pulled out from the curb. David let her mindless chatter wash over him during the ride home, thankful that she didn’t expect neither needed him to answer right now. 

*

You didn’t have to be new in town to think the first day of school sucks. It came at the end of every summer break, the quietly looming pile of anxiety nearing closer with every warm day passing. And now it was here. 

The building was just the right shade of gray to make it feel like a prison, and it seemed as though all of the students passing the two oldest Jacobs-siblings already knew each other. Which they obviously did. It was probably one of those schools where the kids had been in the same class since kindergarten, and everybody’s moms knew each other and organized potlucks to raise money for school trips.

“Is it too late to move again?” Sarah asked, and David remembered with horror that he was technically the older sibling and therefore was supposed to be responsible and set a good example. A voice that sounded a lot like his mom nagged in his ears, but he pushed it aside.

“They have probably already given away our lockers at Roosevelt High,” he reminded Sarah.

“I don’t care, I’ll carry my books around in a trash bag for the rest of the year.” 

David thought “I don’t care” was a bit rich coming from the girl who had spent about an hour tearing through her wardrobe that morning. Not only that, while it was happening she had forced David to watch and listen to her ranting. 

“Why are you even asking me for help with this?” he had asked her as she made him pick between two shirts. “You know it’s just a myth that all gay guys know fashion, right?”

“What, really?” Sarah had asked in mock surprise. “Honestly, Davey, how could I ever think that with you as my brother?”

She had settled on a white, flowy skirt combined with a green t-shirt, and David suddenly wondered if he should have given more thought into his own clothes. Was he underdressed? Was dressing up for the first day of school actually a thing?

“I’m gonna puke,” Sarah said and shook her head as a guy on a skateboard passed her and continued into the building. She did look slightly green in the face, perfectly matching her shirt. David doubted it would help much if he mentioned it.

“It’s gonna be fine,” he said instead and clapped her on the back. “You’re good. And besides, you have already found a friend, that’s more than could be said about me.”

“You mean Katherine?”

It had taken about twenty-four hours for Katherine to text Sarah, during which time she had complained about her not texting yet about forty times. After that, they had met up a couple of times and hung out without David around, so he didn’t really know how well they actually got along. He had assumed they had gotten close, though, based on the fact that they seemed to text each other every day. 

“Yeah, I mean Katherine,” he said, and Sarah shrugged. 

“Yeah, but, you never know with these things, right? It could be totally different in school, she could be--”

“Hey, Sarah!”

Sarah and David both spun around and saw Katherine run up to the two of them. Her hair was pulled back, and she was carrying both a backpack and a canvas-bag slung over her shoulder. She looked way too perky and cheerful for the first day of school, David wondered if she was high on caffeine. She hugged Sarah and smiled at David. “How are you two?”

“Oh, you know…” Sarah smiled tensely, and Katherine laughed. 

“Oh, I know,” she agreed. She glanced behind her, and gestured for two people who had been hanging back. “Sarah, Davey, this is Race and Albert. Say hi, boys, and be nice.”

Race was skinny, blonde, and grinning so widely that David wondered if it was the permanent state of his face. Albert had freckles and red hair that clashed beautifully with a purple hat. He was carrying a skateboard in his hands, and his baggy, casual clothes fit the typical skater-look so well that David almost started laughing. But he didn't, thank god.

The five of them moved inside, Sarah appearing to feel strengthened by her friend walking beside her. They split up to each find their first class, and David found himself walking alone with only Albert and Race’s confusing explanation helping him get to where he was supposed to go. 

He got to his first class on time, which seemed almost like a miracle. Next period he had Calculus, and found himself to be in the same class as Race. They didn’t sit next to each other, as Race had already taken a seat up front besides a dark guy with black, curly hair and a varsity-jacket, but he didn’t need to in order to understand that Race was good at math. Like, really good. 

Afterwards, Race said hi and David was so surprised he dropped his book on the floor and scrambled to pick it up with flushed cheeks. Race didn’t seem to notice, or mind, but he introduced David to Mush and then hurried off to history. David felt slightly intimidated as he continued through the hallway to his next class, both by the unexpected social interaction and the unexpected jock. 

It took about ten minutes for him to find the next classroom, and by then the rest of the class had already arrived and was sitting down. David swallowed and silently cursed himself for not being quicker. He looked around the room and hoped to god there was an empty seat at the back, but the only chair that was unoccupied was almost at the front. Accepting his doom, David walked up to the desk. “Is this seat taken?” he asked the boy sitting in the other chair. 

The guy was dark blond and smiling as he turned his head to look at David. “Oh, no, go ahead!” he said. “You new?”

David nodded, and the guy grinned even wider, if that was possible. The smile was different than Race’s had been. While Race’s smile had felt teasing and knowing, like he was in on a joke David couldn’t quite figure out, this guy’s smile was approachable and inviting. “Nice to meet you, I’m Crutchie.” 

David stared. “Crutchie,” he repeated in disbelief before he realized how rude that sounded. He hadn’t needed to worry, though, because Crutchie only laughed. 

“Well, my name is actually Charlie, but don’t tell anyone.” The guy nodded towards the wall beside him, where two crutches were leaned. “Not very PC, huh?” he said, and David couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “Don’t worry, seriously,” he said when he saw David’s face. “It’s fine, only my mom calls me Charlie.”

“And the teachers,” a guy sitting at the desk behind them reminded him. “I’m Elmer,” he introduced himself to David. He had curly, brown hair that he had tied back with a light green headband that complimented his eyes surprisingly well. He had matched it with a pastel green sweatshirt that looked so extremely soft that David had to stop himself from asking if he could touch it.

“I’m David,” he said instead, because that was more normal.

“Nice to meet you,” Crutchie said and then glanced back. “Hey, Smalls, what were you saying about your summer?”

The girl, Smalls, who was sitting beside Elmer, went off on a long story about a chicken who had escaped on a farm nearby her summer camp. As she talked she gesticulated wildly with a pen. She almost poked Elmer’s eye out, but he looked cool as a cucumber as he dodged and avoided sudden blindness. Smalls had an edge to herself, with short hair styled in spikes and dyed dark blue and a dark denim jacket with patches all along the sleeves. She talked quickly, almost too quickly for David to follow along. Then he suddenly realized that maybe he wasn’t supposed to follow along, and quickly looked ahead again. 

Race, Mush, Crutchie, Smalls… What was with the nicknames around here? David had never had a nickname. Well, besides Davey, and that didn’t really count. It wasn’t a completely new name. He hadn’t understood the reason behind Race and Mush’s names, but Crutchie was fairly obvious, and as he glanced back at Smalls he understood how her tiny built could have been an inspiration. 

The teacher walked into the classroom and started the lesson, and David was silently glad. It was US government, and he was good at it. Not like English, which was his safe space of sorts, but he still followed along without trouble and felt himself build up his confidence for every minute that passed. He finished the worksheet they had gotten, and for the rest of the class he quietly listened to the whispered conversation between Crutchie, Elmer and Smalls. It wasn’t like he was trying to eavesdrop, not really, but they sat really close and it was almost difficult to not overhear. Not that he seemed to know any of the people they talked about, so maybe it didn’t matter.

As the bell rang David packed his things slowly. He thought about his options for lunch. Skipping wasn’t a good idea he realized as his stomach rumbled and reminded him that he hadn’t managed to eat anything for breakfast that morning. At the same time, he felt a sense of dread at the thought of eating alone or, worse still, trying to find a table full of strangers to sit at. Could he bring food to the library? It was probably not allowed. It hadn’t been at his last school. 

But before he could make up his mind Crutchie tapped his shoulder lightly. David, thinking he was in the way for Crutchie to get to the door, quickly hoisted his bag over a shoulder and mumbled an apology as he stepped out of the way. 

“No, you’re good,” Crutchie said and shook his head quickly. “I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with us? It must be hard, first day and everything.”

“Oh.” David blinked, and glanced at Elmer and Smalls who were chatting with each other. “I don’t want to impose-”

Crutchie made a dismissive sound and shook his head again. “You wouldn’t, trust me. We’re a bunch of people eating at the same table, it’s great. Unless you don’t want to, of course, then--”

“No, no, I want to, thanks!” David quickly said. It felt as if he had just jumped off a cliff, his heart was beating so hard. But it was fine. He had done it! See, brain? Talking to new people wasn’t that hard! 

Just scary as hell. 

They chatted as they walked to the cafeteria, and David managed to hold a whole conversation going without bursting into flames, which was, huh. A surprise to everyone, he’s sure. 

Turned out Crutchie was a part of the theatre-kids in school, he worked a lot of tech apparently, and he told David about the production of Mamma Mia they had done last spring. “I was a set-designer, together with Smalls,” he said and nodded towards her. “Though she did the heavy lifting,” he continued jokingly. David laughed. “Anyway, I’m really hoping to get a part this year, it would be so much fun. They are doing a smaller production right before christmas, so I’m holding out for that.”

The longer they talked, the more at ease David felt. This was fine. It was nice, even. The social hierarchy had done its job and led him to have lunch with a small group of pretty nerdy people, but that was fine with him. He could let Sarah have the popular kids like Katherine and Jack, he didn’t need that kind of crowd. People like Crutchie, Elmer and Smalls were more his speed. 

As they walked into the cafeteria, they were all so engrossed in the conversation that David he barely registered what was happening and didn’t have time to feel anxious about meeting even more new people. As he stood in line, he glanced around the cramped room and felt glad he had somewhere to sit, together with people he didn’t feel frightened around. 

“Where are they?” Elmer asked. He was carrying both his own and Crutchie’s trays, and was scanning across the room to find whoever it was he was looking for. 

Smalls stood on her tippy toes to get a better view. “Over there,” she said and pointed in the general direction towards the tables. David squinted, but couldn’t figure out what table she was referring to.

Elmer smiled. “Oh, yeah!”

Smalls groaned. “God, Al is wearing that stupid hat again.”

“Don’t be mean,” Elmer chided her and started for the tables. “He likes it.”

“Yeah,” Crutchie agreed. “Let him believe he’s cool, okay?” 

Elmer laughed and waved. “Hey, Race, wait till you hear this joke I made earlier!”

David saw Race look up from his conversation with Albert and grinned at the four of them. Then he stopped in his tracks and stared. As the pieces all fell together he mentally slapped himself for his own stupidity.

At the table sat Race, Albert, and Mush together with a handful of other people who David had never seen before. But that wasn’t what surprised David most, no, it was Jack, who was sitting at the end of the table, very invested in a conversation with Mush and another guy wearing glasses. 

Elmer and Smalls walked up to the table, and Crutchie made as if to follow them when he noticed that David still hadn’t moved. “You good?”

“You… You’re friends with Jack Kelly?”

It was weird, because it wasn’t like Jack had done anything to bother David when they met last week. No, it was the opposite, he had been perfectly nice. But somewhere in his mind, David had assumed that Jack was the popular jock who walked around like he owned the school. But here he was, having lunch with theatre-geeks, skaters and girls who had spent their summer chasing chicken around a summer camp. 

“I mean, yeah,” Crutchie said slowly. “He’s my brother.”

David whipped his head around. Crutchie was short and medium-built, with dark blond hair and light eyes, thin eyebrows and dimples around his mouth. Then he glanced back at Jack. “I’m sorry, you don’t… look alike. At all.”

Crutchie grinned. “Damn, really? I hadn’t noticed,” he said. “No, man, adopted foster brothers.”

“Oh,” David said, and felt really dumb again. 

Crutchie tipped his head to the side and looked at David. “You know Jack already?”

“No, not really, I met him briefly last week.”

Crutchie nodded. “And you… What, thought he was too cool to hang out with misfits?”

Maybe David would have phrased it differently (“misfits” felt very early 2000) but he supposed Crutchie was right. “I mean, I thought he was.. Cool.”

Crutchie laughed. “And what does that make me?” he said, but he didn’t look bothered. “He’s not a part of a sports-team or anything, he’s the artsy type. Albert is a bit of a jock, though, and Mush, over there in the varsity-jacket. They’re on the soccer-team. And Elmer is on the cheer squad.”

David stared at Elmer, who had just sat down next to Race, and tried to see him doing backflips and jumps. He glanced down at his shoes, and Crutchie started laughing again. 

“I mean, I get why you would think that,” he said soothingly when David glanced up in alarm. “But it’s pretty funny, because Jack is probably the biggest nerd of us all. Anyway, come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

When Crutchie said everyone, he really meant everyone. There were so many names, David’s head was spinning after twenty seconds. There was a guy from David’s french class, Louis, who was called Blink for reasons unknown, a tall guy named Specs (“Yeah, the names aren’t always creative,” he said and pushed up his glasses.), and someone named Romeo, whose nickname seemed extremely fitting as he dragged Crutchie down next to him and started talking about some drama between two people in their theatre-group. David nodded towards Mush and Race in greeting, and Albert gave him an unprompted high five that he managed to not fuck up entierly. 

“And you already know Jack, right?” 

David turned to Jack, who nodded. “Davey, right?” he said as he chewed. 

_"Davey?”_ Race asked with raised eyebrows and a pleased grin growing on his face. “That’s the cutest nickname, okay, you’re officially not David any longer, you’re Davey.”

Jack gave Race’s head a good shove, but when Race came up again he was smiling, so obviously it was commonplace between the two. He turned back to David, ignore Race’s further distractions. “He’s an idiot, don’t mind him. So, how you settling in?”

“Pretty okay,” David said and was glad at Jack’s apparently good social skills. He could just follow along without needing to come up with his own topic of conversation. “I finished unpacking, we found our way to the closest supermarket…”

“And the best bakery in town,” Jack said, and suddenly David couldn’t remember what they were talking about just now because Jack was smiling a genuine smile like he and David had an inside joke, and then David realized that they kind of did. So he smiled back.

Crutchie unwrapped his sandwich and wrinkled his nose. “Jack, I think Medda mixed up our lunches. You have turkey?”

Jack threw his bag to Crutchie’s without checking. “Take whatever you want,” he said and turned back to David. “So, Davey, I’ve heard Katherine is hanging out with your sister a lot, I haven’t seen her at the bakery since last monday.”

David felt himself get warm, and he wondered if Jack would hate him because his sister was cutting into his alone-time with his girlfriend. 

“Oh, you know Kath?” Smalls asked David. “She’s the best, isn’t she?” 

“That she is,” Jack agreed. “Hey, Race, pass me some fries, yeah?”

The lunch passes surprisingly quick and painless. Large groups of people could seem daunting, but David found it easier to just exist when there wasn’t as much pressure for him to think of things to say. It was more like he could just hang out. 

When they all had finished eating he followed Mush and Blink to the third floor where he was supposed to have environmental science. The two of them were walking a step ahead of David, talking loudly between themselves and dodging between freshmen with experienced ease. The topic of conversation changed at a quick pace, but for now they had settled on tryouts for the football-team.

“I just hope some of the freshmen can actually kick a damn ball,” Mush said. “We need some good players, too many of us are leaving this spring.”

“You’re telling me,” Blink said with a snort. “You know, the robotics club is gonna lose half its members in june.”

David only listened with half an ear, too deep in thought about his next class and the how he’d get to the changing rooms for P.E. It wasn’t until Mush softly shoved his shoulder that he realized they had asked him a question. “Sorry, what?”

Mush grinned. “I was asking, if you have any extracurriculars you’re planning to sign up for? What do you like to do?”

In reality, David didn’t have any idea. He liked to write, sure, but he had never been involved in any clubs at his old school. “I don’t think so,” he said with a shrug. “We’ll see, I guess.”

They said goodbye, and Mush and Blink headed for their next class. 

Next period was P.E., and it was as horrible as David had expected it to be. Race ran into the changing rooms a minute before the bell rang, and apparently he wasn’t the only one from the group who was in the same class. Spot Conlon, who both Race and Jack had mentioned at lunch, was a terrifying force of nature as they played dodgeball. Race ran after him, quicker but weaker, and used taunts as a form of distraction in order to steal the ball. Their teacher yelled at him to please play by the rules, and that he and Spot were on the same team, but it made little difference. 

David kept away from Spot’s throws as much as he could and acquainted himself with the possibility of dropping out of the class as soon as possible. 

The last class of the day was AP English, which was the only class As David - exhausted and sweaty - found the right classroom he saw Katherine sit at the front. Her eyebrows were deeply furrowed as her pen darted across an open notebook in front of her, quickly filling the lined pages with small, slanted handwriting. 

“Hi,” David said, and she glanced up. When she recognized him her look changed from mildly annoyed and stressed to cheerful. How her facial features managed to change so quickly, he had no idea, but he was deeply impressed.

“Hey, Davey!” she exclaimed and slammed her notebook shut . “Oh, I had lunch with Sarah earlier, she mentioned you’d be taking this class. How’s your first day been? Jack said you met everyone at lunch. Sit down!”

He did, mentally filtering her words to figure out what question he was supposed to answer first. “It’s been okay,” he said. “Pretty intense.”

“I get you,” Katherine said and smiled knowingly. “I remember my first day, I was all alone, wandering around the hallways not knowing where I was going. I had lunch in the parking lot, it was objectively tragic. That’s until I started talking to Smalls in biology, she introduced me to Elmer, who introduced me to Crutchie, who introduced me to Jack.”

“What an origin-story,” David said. “Crutchie got to me first, though Smalls was with him.”

“He tends to do that,” Katherine said. “He’s a people-person.”

“Seems like many of your friends are,” he pointed out, and Katherine nodded thoughtfully.

“I think they’re mostly just annoyingly loud,” she said. “And very close, many of them have known each other for a long time. I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but they’re all sweethearts when you get to know them.” She stopped for a moment before adding; “Though, Jack wasn’t very nice at first. He called me “lady” for a week and I thought he was either flirting with me or passive-aggressively letting me know he didn’t like me , but it turned out he had just forgotten my name and was too embarrassed to ask.” Her laugh rang out in the classroom. “Made for a great story, though.”

The lesson started, and as the teacher’s description of sentence structures and literary themes washed over David he could feel himself breathing a little easier. English had always been his favorite subject, ever since first grade when he had written a short story about a snake becoming friends with a koala. His teacher had been confused, but had applauded his creativity nonetheless. He had continued writing ever since, mostly stories about whatever hyperfixation he had at the moment. As he got to high school he didn’t have the time to write as much anymore, but he had continued to keep it up as much as possible. English was something he knew, something he truly understood. There were rules he got without question, and he could follow them without help from anyone else. 

He finished the class-work and got up from his seat to collect the book they were going to start reading. He got another copy and handed it to Katherine as he got back. She gave him a smile and whispered a “thank you.”

As he started reading, he could feel her watching him. He glanced up, and the frown she was wearing disappeared immediately and was replaced with a smile. 

“Uh,” he said. “Is… is everything okay?”

She nodded quickly, but put down the book and turned towards him. “Sarah told me you write,” she said.

David felt his face flush. “Ah. Right.”

It wasn’t something he kept hidden, really. He hadn’t talked about it much to his friend’s at Roosevelt High, but they had never asked so he had never told them. This, having someone who showed genuine curiosity in his hobby, was a little bit strange, especially since the person in question wasn’t a family member who therefore was obligated to care.

“So, you write stories? Fiction?”

David stared down into is book. “What about it?” he asked, and then quickly looked up with panic in his chest. “Oh, sorry, that sounded--”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Katherine interrupted. “But, listen, I was wondering… You know I’m in the school newspaper, right?”

“You mentioned it, yeah.”

“Well, we’re short on a columnist, because Sniper graduated last year, and I was thinking…” She trailed off, but David understood what she was getting at. 

“Oh,” he said. “But, I… I’ve never written a column before.”

Katherine put a hand on his and leaned forward. “That’s the best part, it’s more like writing fiction than it is like writing journalism. It’s supposed to be free, entertaining--”

“And you think _I’m_ the one for the job?” David said with a small smile. Katherine laughed quietly. 

“If your work is half as good as Sarah makes it out to be, then yes. We’re having a meeting this afternoon, just an informal get-together to check in after the break and talk through the plans for the year. You wanna come?”

David didn’t answer, and their teacher got their attention by starting to talk about the essay they were supposed to write about the book they were reading. 

All through the rest of the class, David had trouble concentrating. He had never in his life felt tempted to join the school newspaper, never thought of writing a column. He had read a few of them, sure, he knew the general idea… But it was crazy, how would he even have time to do something like that, with all the homework he was sure he would get in the coming days. 

And then a voice, Sarah’s voice, spoke in his head. _I’m just worried that you’ll… That you’ll be alone all year, and then go off to college without having anything here to leave behind._

When the bell rang, David said a brief goodbye to Katherine and hurried to his locker. His phone rang as he got up, and he saw Sarah’s name on the screen. “Hey?”

“Hi!” she said. “I’m heading outside, will you meet me at the car?” 

Jack stood at his own locker, pulling out books. Katherine walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, making him jump. When he saw who it was, however, he broke into a smile and pulled her into a big hug. 

“Davey?” Sarah asked. “Hey, you still there?”

Katherine said something to Jack, and then she noticed David. She smiled at him and pointed a thumb towards the corridor behind her. The question in her raised eyebrows was clear: You coming?

Jack looked back and spotted David as well, and smiled and waved. David felt his mouth go dry and he coughed into the phone. “Uh, yeah, I’m here, but… You go ahead, I’ll catch a ride with someone else, or walk.”

Silence. Then, “Uh, really? Why?”

He saw Jack slung his backpack over one shoulder and squeeze Katherine’s shoulder in goodbye before starting towards the exit, and Katherine was left waiting for David to make up his mind. “There’s this meeting I’m going to,” he said. “Student newspaper. I’ll be home for dinner, though.”

Before Sarah had time to say more than “The student - Davey, wait!” he said goodbye and hung up the phone. Ignoring how hard his heart was beating, he took a deep breath and walked up to Katherine. “Hey,” he said. “So, where’s this meeting?”


	2. Romeo and the matchmaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romeo sees a a potential relationship blossom between his friends and decides he wants to help them get there faster.

Some people have said that Romeo has a flair for the dramatics. As an answer to that, he simply pirouetted away from them, because he certainly doesn’t need that sort of negativity in his life. But they have a point, because he is a part of the drama department of Duane High, and has been known to over-act so much that even their drama-teacher, the sweet Medda Larkin, has told him to calm down. 

But there is something about having that energetic, wonderfully exuberant feeling bubbling through his body. He feels like that when he’s performing, whether it’s theatre, singing, or violin (his parents made him play for years). Everything else disappears from view and from his mind, and he is focused only on what he is doing. 

He’s not naive, he knows he’s not the best actor in the drama-club. But it’s fun. It’s challenging. It’s amazing. And in his opinion, that has always been more important than talent.

So calling Romeo over-dramatic might seem like an insult, and he might take it like an insult depending on who you are, but at the end of the day it’s a pretty accurate way to describe him. 

That is why he was lying on the floor of the stage on a tuesday afternoon, a little more than a week into the new semester, an arm draped across his eyes. He sighed deeply. When he didn’t get a reaction he repeated. Then he took away his arm and glanced at Crutchie, who was sitting beside him, quite rudely ignoring him. Elmer was half lying with his head in Crutchie’s lap, and laughed at Romeo’s face.

To some people, it might seem weird to find three people randomly hanging out in the auditorium when they had no apparent reason to be there. But that’s where some people were wrong, because there was a very valid reason for them to be doing this; they had nothing better to do. 

The three of them had used up a lifetime worth of luck, and got a study-period at the same time on tuesdays. This time was supposed to be spent studying with a teacher present, but last year Romeo, Elmer, and Crutchie had gotten written permission to spend this time with miss Medda to help her prepare for the spring musical. And since that written permission never specified how long this allowance would last, they had simply… Continued using it, as school started up again. Quite ingenious, if Romeo could say so himself. It was almost a bit like skipping, but they had agreed that they would continue as long as Medda let them. 

She had been happy to see them back, and had immediately put them to work organizing the old storage space for props. It had been used to pile miscellaneous items for about fifty years, and smelled like it too. They had been going at it for about an hour, but were now too tired to continue. Hence; lying on the stage floor of the auditorium.

“I am in pain,” Romeo confessed.

Crutchie nodded. “Sure,” he agreed, not taking his eyes away from his phone. 

Elmer, sweet, brilliant, wonderful Elmer, took pity on Romeo. “Why are you in pain?” he asked.

“Oh, I will gladly tell you,” Romeo said with a passive-aggressive glare towards Crutchie and sat up. “Here I was this morning, minding my own business, just being my wonderful self…” Elmer snickered and Crutchie smiled and shook his head. “...When I got back a worksheet we did in English last week. It was about King Lear.”

“So?” Crutchie asked, and Romeo held up a hand to silence him. 

“Hush. This worksheet, this small piece of paper which I had put my heart and soul into, got completely _shredded_ by Mr Greenfell.” Romeo shook his head. “I mean, how could he do that to me? I thought he _liked_ me, but now he’s criticizing my analysis of a Shakespeare-play? Who does he think he is?”

“An english teacher with more experience than a 17 year old drama-geek, probably,” Elmer said, but smiled sympathetically.

Romeo sighed again. “Needless to say, I cried in the bathroom for ten minutes and then Specs gave me a chocolate-bar.”

“Did you really cry in the bathroom?” Crutchie asked and finally looked up from his phone. 

Romeo was quiet for a moment. Then, “Okay, no, I didn't. But I was _really_ bummed out. And Specs did give me a chocolate-bar to cheer me up.”

Crutchie shook his head with another smile. “You’re too much, Ro.” He glanced down at his phone and then gently pushed Elmer off his lap. “We need to get going, our lunch is starting.”

With the help from Elmer, Crutchie got up and got his crutches. It was a hassle getting him on and off the stage, since he always had to go backstage and wrestle his way through costumes and set-pieces to get to the backstage door, which led into Medda’s office, which led into the hallway. 

They made their way through the student-packed halls, arriving at the cafeteria. 

They had all gotten somewhat lucky with their lunches this year, but there were instances where their schedules didn’t line up. On Mondays, neither Spot nor Katherine had lunch with them. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, they were pretty much split into two groups, and on Fridays they were all together and crammed together at a table. Today Crutchie, Elmer and Romeo all had lunch together with Mush, Blink and Specs. 

Davey joined them as well, after Crutchie had sent him some prompting texts last week. It was surprising how easily Davey had fit into the group when he started eating lunch with them. Lord knows they needed more quiet people; everyone always said that when Romeo and Race were both at the same table it got so loud people thought a fight had broken out. But Davey was different. He was a little more like Specs, in a way, or Blink. A little bit more reserved, a little more likely to listen rather than speak. Romeo could appreciate that.

When Romeo, Elmer and Crutchie sat down it was clear that they had arrived just in time to see a key-moment of the lunch-hour unfold. Mush was looking through his bag, and came up with a portion-size bag of skittles. He put it on the table between himself and Blink, who had reached into his own bag and taken out a milky-way bar. They shared a smile - a small, uncomfortably private smile - and exchanged the candy with each other. 

Crutchie and Elmer hadn’t seemed to notice the exchange, or they simply didn’t care, but Davey was looking at Mush and Blink with furrowed eyebrows. 

“It’s their thing,” Romeo whispered to him. “They switch the candy their parents pack them.”

“But… Why?” Davey asked, equally as quiet. 

Romeo shrugged and took a swig from his water bottle. (Constant hydration is very important when you talk as much as he does). “Beats me,” he said.

“It’s sort of a ritual at this point,” Specs said with a nod, and Romeo kicked his legs forward under the table to touch Specs’ shoe with his own. It was a sort of hello, one that no one else noticed. It was nice. 

“What is a ritual?” Elmer asked, only now listening in to the conversation. 

“Nothing,” Specs said quickly, sending Romeo a warning look. 

“Mush and Blink’s candy-thing,” Romeo said, because he doesn’t understand social cues unless they are written into a script. 

Mush and Blink glanced at each other, and then quickly away again. No one said anything for a second, then Mush muttered something about not liking skittles. 

The silence continued for another minute, in which Specs managed to silently yell at Romeo with his eyes only, which was pretty impressive and surprisingly intimidating. Crutchie and Elmer were both seemingly consumed by their phones, probably texting the others to explain the awkwardness, and Davey was silently chewing on a slice of pizza. Romeo looked down on his own plate. 

Blink coughed. “Anyone want a skittle?” 

***

The rest of the schoolday passed slowly, and when the last bell rang Romeo happily followed Race to the park to keep him company while he waited for Albert to finish soccer practice. An hour passed by playing cards in the sun and procrastinating studying, which was the perfect way to shake off the unpleasant memories of a very boring school day. When Romeo got home his mom was already sitting in the kitchen, her laptop open in front of her and papers strewn across the table. He gave her a kiss on the cheek before slumping down in front of her. She held up a finger to let him know she would be done soon, and he got his phone out. Specs had sent him a text. _Homework-emergency. Call me?_ Romeo didn’t have time to answer him before his mother closed her laptop and smiled at him. “How was school, Miyong?” 

“It was pretty good,” he said and put down his phone. “Miss Medda got us to clear out this really old and cramped closet.”

His mother laughed and started gathering reports in a pile. “It sounds like she is putting you to good work,” she said, and Romeo rolled his eyes. 

“Tiring,” he said. “I’d rather just show up and perform.”

She shook her head. “But that is not how it works, baby, you can’t expect to be given privileges like performing on stage without putting in the work behind the stage, that would be unfair.”

“I know, I know,” Romeo said and sighed. “When will dad be home?”

“Soon,” his mom said. “He’s getting groceries. Lucky for you, since it gives you time to do homework before dinner.” She raised her eyebrows and gave him a look that he could read easily. 

“Yeah, yeah, I will,” he said, and she smiled. 

Despite his promise he lingered at the kitchen table for another minute. His mother quickly caught on and fixed him with a searching look. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I just…”

“Yes?”

Romeo’s relationship with his mother had always been built on both mutual honesty. Speaking openly about his thoughts and feelings had been a vital part of his upbringing, openly encouraged by his mom and silently tolerated by his dad. Usually it was a good thing, letting him express himself without fear of judgement. However, it also led him to feel a weight settle over him whenever he did not tell the whole truth to his mom. 

He sighed and leaned down on the counter. “So, I have… two friends. Who like each other. It’s really obvious, actually, and they are starting to pine even more than they did last year, and I... I want to help them get together.”

“Of course you do,” his mother said with a short nod. “You aren’t the type of person to leave something be when he knows he can help.” She gave him a searching face. “These friends… How close friends are they?”

“Best friends,” Romeo said quickly. Mush and Blink had come into the group at the same time, attached by the hip back then as well. “They are very close.”

The look his mom gave him was a little too understanding, but after a moment she nodded. “Romeo, you can only do what you do best.” She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the top of his head. “Support and encourage them.”

It only took him a moment for an idea to settle in his head. When it did, he stared up at his mom and felt a smile spread across his face. “Oh,” he said. “Uh, I need… Homework.” He rushed up the stairs and into his room. 

Romeo’s favorite place in the house was his bedroom. No scratch that, it was probably his favorite place in the entire world. It was pretty small, with a queen sized bed taking up almost half of the floor, and the walls are filled with any poster, photo or playbill he has been able to get his hands on during the last six years of his life. It was a mismatched mess of colours and shapes, and it was beautiful. Everywhere you looked you’d find something new to lay your eyes on, a new object to give your attention to. 

He threw himself onto his bed and opened his laptop that lay on the pillow. But he didn’t pull up any school work, instead he opened facebook and called Specs on facetime. It took only a few seconds for him to answer. 

“Oh, I was just about to call you,” he said with a tired smile. He was sitting at his desk, leaned back on his chair and holding the phone up in front of him. It let Romeo get a good view of both his rumpled hair and unmade bed in the background. Specs adjusted his glasses but only managed to make them sit more crockedly on his nose. “You haven’t finished your english homework yet, right? I thought maybe I could help you with it if you help me with my history presentation, I’m having trouble with--” 

“There’s no time, Specs!” Romeo interrupted, making Specs look up. He was obviously taken aback. 

“Ohhh-kay,” he said slowly. “What’s up?”

“It’s about Mush and Blink,” Romeo said. “They are in love with each other.”

Specs’ look went from apprehensive to sympathetic. “Have they told you that?” he asked. 

Romeo was quiet for a second. “Well, no…”

Specs nodded slowly. “Okay, so what is your proof? That they switch candy?”

“It’s not that they switch candy, anybody could do that, we could do that,”

“Uh-”

Romeo didn’t let him interrupt. “No, it’s the fact that they have swapped candy every day for the last year, Specs. Do you know how many candies that is?”

“A lot,” Specs guessed. “Call Race, he’d probably know the math.”

“They swap candy every day, but… why?”

Specs sighed and threw his hand out in a shrug. “Because Mush doesn’t like skittles, but Blink does? And Blink doesn’t like chocolate, but Mush does? It’s not that--”

Romeo waved him aside. “Yes, obviously, but why wouldn’t they just ask their parents to buy them a different candy? Why go through the trouble of getting a candy that they know they’re not gonna eat? They always get the same thing, even if they don’t want it for themselves.”

Specs stared for a moment, then bursted out in a short but loud and genuine laugh. “Romeo, that’s actually a very good point.”

Romeo beamed. “Right?”

Specs nodded, still smiling. He had balanced his phone on something, because both of his hands were free as he leaned his elbows on his desk and leaned forward. “Okay, I’m in.”

“In what?”

Specs rolled his eyes. “Don’t even try to play oblivious, I’m in on whatever plan you have to get the two of them together.”

Romeo smirked. and leaned back on his bed. “Excellent. Okay, first things first, we need to borrow my mom’s credit card.”

***

During the whole next morning, Romeo was jittery and anxious. He had arrived in school thirty minutes before first period, which meant that he and Specs had been able to put their plan into action fifteen minutes later when the students started filing in. Mush and Blink’s lockers were in the same corridor, right ahead of each other, and it was so perfect that Romeo wondered why they hadn’t thought about this before. 

He and Specs placed themselves only a few feet away, ignoring everyone staring at them and instead sneakily glancing around the corner. It took only a few minutes of wait until they saw them. 

“Lucky Mush always gets a ride with Blink,” Specs muttered as the two people in question walk through the entrance and head towards their lockers while talking. 

“Is it luck?” Romeo asked and put a hand on his chest. “Or is it true love?”

Specs snickered, and then shushed Romeo as if he was being too loud. Maybe he was. He often had a hard time telling just how loud he was being until someone pointed it out to him. 

“Look,” Specs mumbled, and Romeo focused his attention back at the lovers in front of them. They split up to go to their respective lockers. Blink opened his and pulled out his books, saying something to the kid who had the locker beside him. When Mush went to open his own locker, Romeo held his breath in anticipation. The locker door was opened, a large pile of milky-way bars poured out of his locker and fell to the ground. 

Mush was standing frozen, staring at his feet which were covered in tens of wrapped chocolate bars. A few people around him stopped as well, and stared at the strange sight. A few people whispered. 

Blink had noticed something happening, and turned around. As he saw the candy, he stopped in his tracks for a moment, staring just like Mush was. Then he hurried forward and bent down to help him gather the candies. 

Mush blinked and also sat down. A few people snickered around them, and Romeo could see that Mush’s face had gone an ashen shade of gray as he stuffed the bars back into his locker and shut it closed again. He glanced up at Blink and asked something that Romeo couldn’t make out over the sound of surrounding students. Blink opened his mouth to answer, but before he got the chance Mush shook his head and walked away without even trying to get his books out from his locker.

“Oh,” Specs said as Blink stared after his friend for a minute. “That was… Not what I was expecting.”

Romeo frowned at Blink who was still standing where Mush left him. “Come on,” he muttered. “Go _after_ him, you idiot.”

But Blink only shook his head a little and turned on his heel, walking in the opposite direction. 

“Well, that was…” Specs laughed tonelessly. “A failure?”

“No,” Romeo said. “They’ll be fine at lunch, I think they just need some time to process and then act.”

And he went off to AP history, truly believing that. 

But when lunch came, Mush and Blink sat down at opposite ends of the table for the first time since the school year started. As the others sat down - today it was Jack, Katherine, Race and Spot joining them while the others ate during a later period - and started to eat, Romeo kept an eye on his two lovebirds, who seemed to have cooled down considerably. They didn’t talk to each other, look at each other or at all acknowledged that the other existed. And when lunch ended Romeo realized with a jolt that they hadn’t exchanged candy, either. 

“We need to do something else,” he said to Specs as they sat together outside Romeo’s English classroom. Romeo was trying to finish last night's homework while also explaining to Specs what had happened at lunch, and whoever said guys couldn’t multitask obviously had never seen Romeo in action. 

“Okay, what?” Specs asked. “That lunch was painful to watch. And that is C, not D. Pretty sure.” He reached over and erased one of Romeo’s answers. As he did his hand brushed over Romeo’s and suddenly Romeo couldn’t remember what they had been talking about. 

“Maybe we should go bigger?” Romeo said after a minute of staring at Specs’ hand. 

“Bigger?” Specs asked. 

“Bigger,” Romeo nodded 

***

Thursday morning, Romeo walked into his history class with a new burst of confidence in his steps. He loved history, it was his favorite subject, and it also happened to be the only class he took with seniors. Which meant it was the only class he took with some of his friends… In particular, with Blink. 

“Good morning,” he cheerfully greeted Blink and sat down in the chair next to him. 

“Oh, hey,” Blink said and continued doodling on his homework. It looked like a robot, but Romeo wasn’t very technical so it might have been something completely else. 

“I feel like today is gonna be a great day,” Romeo said. “Don’t you feel it? There’s something in the air! Is it love? I think it is!”

Blink stared. “What?”

Romeo laughed. “I think love is in the air,” he explained. “I can feel it!”

Blink continued staring, and looked like he was contemplating calling the school nurse. “Uh, sure, I guess…” 

He trailed off, but before Romeo could say anything else there was a knock on the open classroom door. A young girl with a long, blond ponytail and a dazzling smile poked her head in. “Uh, excuse me, is there a.... Louis Baletti here?” 

Blink shrunk down into his chair. Romeo shot up his hand.

“Yeah, he’s here, that’s my friend!”

The woman beamed again. “Great! These are for you!” She walked into the room, carrying in her arms a bouquet of flowers so large she almost disappeared behind it. She put it down on the desk in front of Blink and pulled out a clipboard. “I was told to bring them to this classroom,” she said. “It’s funny, we don’t usually get deliveries for schools. Oh, you need to sign for them.” She handed Blink the clipboard, and he signed his name with hands that looked like they were shaking slightly. When he finished the woman told him to have a nice day and left the room, and Blink glanced around the room. About half of the class were there, and everyone was either staring at Blink or whispering between themselves. Blink shrunk into himself even more.

Romeo clapped his hands. “This is so romantic, I told you so!” he exclaimed and jumped in his chair. The jittery feeling he felt in his stomach was just like when he was on stage, and he was savouring every moment of it. “Who is it from, is there a card?”

Blink found a folded, white card tied around the bouquet, and opened it. Romeo tried to lean over to read it, even though he knew what it said, but Blink angeled the card away from him.   
“It’s from…” He glanced up, and then down at the card again. “It doesn’t say who it's from.”

Romeo felt his inside deflate a little. “It doesn’t? Are you sure?” Silently he cursed the florist who had missed the clear instructions he had left over the email, but oh well. Qué será será, and all that. 

Their teacher walked into the classroom before Blink could even try to hide the flowers (which in any case were too big to be hidden successfully). She spotted Blink, who looked more guilty than Romeo had even seen him, which was saying something since Romeo had seen Blink get caught stealing an old test from a teacher’s desk in order to change his grade. 

“What’s this supposed to be?” the teacher asked and walked up to their desk with a raised eyebrow. 

“Uh,” Blink said, and stared up at her. “I, well--”

“He got flowers from a secret admirer!” Romeo interrupted him. “Isn’t it romantic?”

The teacher did not look like she agreed with Romeo. She blinked at the two of them for a moment, apparently lost for words, and then shook her head firmly. “Put those down on the ground, I don’t want them distracting you anymore than they already have. And Louis, come see me after class, okay?”

Blink put the flowers down on the floor beside him and sank into his chair as far as he could, as if he wanted to disappear from view completely. 

Romeo didn’t have time to wait for Blink to finish talking to their history-teacher after class ended, but he figured it was fine since he would see him at lunch. But when he got to the cafeteria, Blink was nowhere to be found. And neither was Mush. 

Romeo felt an anxious ball start to form in his stomach, and he pulled up his phone. 

**From: Romeo**   
_Hey you!!! Please tell me you know where mush and blink r_

**From: Specs**   
_I’m in biology, can’t text while the teacher is watching._

**From: Specs**   
_They didn’t show up for lunch?_

**From: Romeo**   
_No!!!! And im kinda freaking out!!!!!!_

**From: Specs**   
_I’m sure it’s fine, just try to stay calm. Did he get the flowers?_

**From: Romeo**   
_yeah but!!! idk if he was happy :(_

**From: Specs**   
_Hm. Strange. I gotta go, I will text you after school._

***

When Romeo got home, he went straight up to his room and fell face down into his bed. The weight of the last few days pushed him further into the mattress and he groaned into his pillow. This was starting to get ridiculous. How far did he have to take this before the two of them realized they were meant for each other? How dense can two people be?

If Romeo had been on the receiving end of something like this, he would have realized what was up the first day, and then he would have fucking done something about it. He had always been a hopeless romantic, so he knew all the signs for infatuation from watching way too many movies and reading way too many books on the subject. Ever since he was six years old and watched The Notebook for the first time, he craved grand love-stories like the air he breathed. It was a part of him, just like the dramatics and the flowery button-downs. If it had been him, he would have made it so much easier on himself.

He had only been lying on his bed feeling sorry for himself for a couple of minutes when his phone started buzzing in his pocket. With some difficulty he got it out from under his own body and glanced at the screen. Crutchie. 

“Hey,” Romeo greeted. 

It looked like Crutchie was sitting on the couch in their living room. “Heya,” he said with a smile. 

“What’s up?” Romeo asked. It wasn’t that Crutchie never called him, but it wasn’t usually social calls. 

Voices in the background could be heard, and Crutchie glanced at whoever else was in the room. Probably Jack and Spot, if Romeo wasn’t mistaken. 

“Uh, I had something I wanted to ask you,” Crutchie said as he got up from the couch. He was holding one crutch in his hand and the phone in the other, and slowly made his way through the house until he got back in his and Jack’s room. He sat down on his bed and faced his camera. “Do you know what’s up with Mush and Blink?”

Romeo hesitated. In a way, he liked keeping the whole operation a secret between himself and Specs. It felt special, somehow. But… They were stuck. And if Crutchie could provide the help they needed to wrap this thing up, maybe telling him was worth it.

So he explained what had been going on over the last few days. Everything from the candy-swapping, to his and Specs trip to Seven Eleven to buy all the milky-way bars they could afford, to the flowers and now Mush and Blink’s inexplicable disappearance from their lunch table.

“...So, that’s what’s been going on,” Romeo finished and lied down on his bed, holding his phone up over his face. 

Crutchie was quiet for a minute, clearly processing the ingenious plan Romeo and Specs had managed to pull of. The silence stretched on just enough to be uncomfortable when he shook his head. “Are you serious, Ro?”

Romeo stared. “What?”

Crutchie let out a toneless laugh, but the serious face he was pulling made it clear he wasn’t finding any of this entertaining. “God, this is not cool! You can’t just scheme and plan this like that behind their back, it’s not fair to them! These are people, Ro, you can’t just--”

“I was only trying to help,” Romeo tried. 

“Well, I don’t really think you did, because look at them! They’re not even talking to each other.” Crutchie shook his head again. “Jesus, this is so _you,_ Romeo.”

Romeo felt his inside burn. “I gotta go,” he said, and before Crutchie could say anything else he hung up. 

The silence that was left in the room was heavy. The phone in Romeo’s hand blinked with the disconnected call and then turned black. He continued to stare at it. 

Was Crutchie right? Had he gone too far this time, made things worse than before? Mush and Blink had never, in the couple of years Romeo had known them, not been on speaking terms with each other. Was that Romeo’s fault?

When his mother came home an hour later she found her son watching rom-coms in his bedroom. He had wrapped himself up in a cocoon of blankets and was staring at his laptop screen with a blank stare, as if he already had the movie memorized and didn’t actually need to pay attention. This wasn’t an unusual sight, since he did this every other day. What was surprising was the choice of rom-com.

“Hello, baby,” she said and sat down at the edge of the bed. “What are you- oh, Love actually in august? What’s wrong?”

“Sometimes I just want to see Keira Knightley in a wedding dress, mom.” This was a lie, because he had skipped to all the sad parts of the movie in order to wallow even more.

“Romeo…” 

He was silent for another moment, watching Emma Thomson cry in her bedroom. 

“Her husband cheated, did he not?”

He hummed. “He… Yeah. Basically.”

His mother frowned at the screen. Romeo could feel the judgment radiating off his mother, and suddenly felt an urge to defend the character’s actions. “He made a mistake. That doesn’t mean he’s a horrible person.” He paused for a second and then looked up at his mom. “Does it?”

His mother paused the movie. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

She gave him a look. “You just defended a character who cheated on his wife. It doesn’t seem like you, does it?”

Romeo let out a deep sigh and threw himself back on the mattress in defeat. “No,” he agreed. “It doesn’t.” When his mom only patiently waited for him to explain he sighed again. “I tried to help Mush and Blink get together, but… I don’t know, I’m afraid I made everything worse.”

“Mush and Blink?” His mother asked. “You were talking about Mush and Blink earlier? Your two friends, who liked each other?” The surprise in her voice was barely contained, and he gave her a look. 

“Yeah. Why?”

She shook her head quickly. “Nothing, it’s nothing.” She gave him a small smile. “Romeo, baby, listen to me. Growing up means you make mistakes. It happens all the time. Sometimes you say things you don’t, or do things that you thought was good at the time but turned out to be wrong. This doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you a very regular person, who sometimes makes bad decisions like everyone else. It is very rarely the end of the world. And, this… This is definitely not the end of the world. You only meant well. Even if something bad happened, you wanted to make them happy, not hurt them. That should matter the most, don’t you think?”

“Maybe,” Romeo mumbled and covered his eyes with his arm. “I don’t know.”

His mom patted him on the leg and left him feeling more confused than ever. 

Another buzz came from his phone, and he groaned and swatted it away. It was probably Crutchie calling to tell him off again, or maybe he had told Jack and Spot everything that he had done and they were calling to tell him what a huge idiot he was. Inside his head, Crutchie’s words just from earlier this week rang over and over again. _You’re too much, Ro._

It buzzed again, and he sighed before checking it. It wasn’t Crutchie, nor Jack or Spot. 

**From: Specs**   
_So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?_

**From: Romeo**   
_idk. i don’t think its a good idea._

**From: Specs**   
_...You are using periods._

**From: Romeo**   
_Well,,,,,, so do you._

**From: Specs**   
_Yeah, but I’m me. Tell me what’s wrong?_

**From: Romeo**   
_its nothing dw. do you really think we should continue with this thing?_

**From: Specs**   
_Yes, I do. We both know they love each other, and obviously nothing we have done so far has helped. I was thinking, maybe instead of going with the “anonymous gifts”-thing, maybe we should go more… Direct?_

**From: Romeo**   
_like what,,,, lock them in a cupboard until they confess_

**From: Specs**   
_A cupboard might be a little extreme. But I have an idea._

***

Friday afternoon was bright with a small breeze cooling them in the unforgiving sun. Romeo was jittery again, but he wasn’t entirely sure he liked it as much as he had yesterday. But it was too late to back off now, the plan was already in the making. 

During lunch, which Mush and Blink had missed yet again, Romeo and Specs had slipped two notes into their lockers for them to find before fourth period. Sure enough, they both had opened their locker and read the piece of paper that had fallen down. 

“This will work,” Specs said. “I’m sure of it!”

When school finished all of the students filed out into the sunny day, glad to go on weekend and forget about school for a couple of days. Romeo went home, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. He couldn’t sit still. He couldn’t even finish watching Love Actually, that’s how energetic he was feeling. He forced himself to eat some dinner, and at half past eight, he could hear Specs’ car pull into his driveway. 

“You will be home by ten,” his mother reminded him and he nodded impatiently. After making sure his phone was charged, she let him go and he hurried outside. As soon as he got into the car they sped off towards the lake. 

The lake was not too far away from the inner city, but as soon as you got there it felt like you had arrived at a whole other place. Instead of dusty buildings and red bricks surrounding you, there were green leaves and grey cliffs barricading the water from the surrounding grass and roads. Trees loomed over the water and proudly spread their branches up into the air. It was still too early into the year for the leaves to fall, but the deep green colour was becoming paler and paler and was in due time gonna start changing into fiery red and oranges. 

Romeo and Specs parked the car and walked the last bit so that it wouldn’t be spotted. They decided to sit down at the edge of the forest, hidden somewhat from view but still able to see the whole lake.

There weren't a lot of people there at this time; all of the adults and families had gone home for the night. A few younger couples were walking along the forest edge or sitting on the cliffs, taking in the view of the lake glittering in the setting sun, and a small group of teenagers were by the water, laughing loudly and splashing each other.

Specs let out a breath as he looked out over the scene. “This is… Very romantic.” His voice sounded almost hoarse as he said it.

“Yeah, I know,” Romeo said with a grin. “Oh, this will so work, this was a great idea, Specs.”

Specs nodded. “Uh, yeah,” he said. “I was thinking, after this is all done we could--”

“Shh, look!” Romeo interrupted him and gestured frantically.

From where they were sitting they could clearly see Blink pulling up on his bike and dismounting. He looked around the cliffs and then sat down to wait. Only a moment later, Mush rounded a corner of the path and came into view. 

Romeo and Specs were too far away to make out any words that were being said, but they could clearly see Mush walking up to Blink and tapping him on the shoulder. 

“Solid start,” Romeo whispered as Blink smiled up at Mush. 

Mush sat down beside Blink, and now their backs were turned on Romeo and Specs so it was impossible to see how they were doing. But then Blink threw his head back and laughed at something Mush said, and all the worries Romeo had before evaporated in the mild evening. 

Romeo glanced at Specs, who were looking back at him. “I think it might be working,” he said and smiled. 

Specs smiled back and shook his head in disbelief. “This is crazy,” he said. 

With a quiet squeal, Romeo shoved Specs and pointed to Mush and Blink. Blink had stood up, and was now dragging Mush up with him and into a hug. 

“They are so cute,” Romeo sighed. 

Specs smiled. “Yeah,” he said, and there was that hoarseness in his voice again. “But maybe we should go now.”

Romeo nodded and stood up. “Definitely. I only wanted to make sure they did good, I don’t want to risk seeing... _too much._ ” He wiggled his eyebrows and Specs snorted.

They walked back through the forest and towards the car. The drive back to Romeo’s place was quiet, but it wasn’t uncomfortable like it would have been with anyone else. It was easy, just sitting there and basking in the glory of a job well done. 

When they pulled up to Romeo’s house ten minutes before his curfew, Specs followed him out of the car. 

“Uh,” he said and scratched the back of his head. “I, um--”

Romeo bumped his shoulder against his.. “Hey, we did it!”

Specs nodded with a small laugh. “Yeah, we did.”

They stood still for a moment, and then Specs moved forward and brought Romeo in for a tight hug. Romeo felt Specs’ arms envelop him like a blanket, felt him lean his chin on the top of Romeo’s head. He breathed in the smell of Specs; warm and calm even though those aren’t actual things that can exist as a scent. 

They pulled away and Romeo felt somewhat dizzy. “Uh,” he said and shook his head as if that would help clear his thoughts. 

Specs smiled down at him. “Goodnight, Romeo.”

“Night,” Romeo said, and watched as Specs got into his car and pulled out of the driveway. 

When Romeo got up to his room he fell into his bed with a wide smile on his face. He felt a warm sort of giddiness spread through his body, and he knew it must be because of how he had succeeded with helping Mush and Blink get together. 

The smell of Specs stayed in his mind as he fell asleep.

***

Monday came and Romeo went to school with a happy skip to his steps that surprised both his parents. The sun was shining, a physical proof that it was a very good day and that nothing bad would happen. Birds might as well have been following Romeo around, singing in his ear, that’s how excited he was. 

He saw Specs in the carpark, and all but ran up to him. “Oh, hey Ro,” he said and laughed as Romeo bounced on the soles of his feet. “You good?”

“I’m great,” Romeo said. “I love helping others. And I love people being in love. And, oh god, I just love love.”

“It is pretty great,” Specs agreed with a small smile. He locked his car and they started walking towards the building. “Uh, speaking of love…”

“Have you seen Mush and Blink, yet?” Romeo interrupted him and searched the groups of passing students. 

Specs looked like he was gonna say something, but changed his mind. “No,” he finally said. “I just got here. Hey, Ro…”

“Yeah?”

A group of girls passed, which made Specs hesitate until they were gone. He took a deep breath. “Okay, listen, I was wondering if you’d… Sometime, if you’d like to… Uh. You wanna buy some ice cream after school?”

Romeo smiled. “Yeah!” he said. “I’d love to. I still need help with that english assignment we talked about last week. Oh, maybe Albert wants to join? I promised I’d help him prepare for his test on the agricultural revolution.”

“Ah,” Specs said. “Right, yeah, of course. But, I was actually thinking--”

Before he could finish, Romeo stopped in his tracks. “Oh look, there they are!” he exclaimed. Specs deflated a bit before pulling himself together and looking to where Romeo was pointing. 

Mush and Blink were both stepping out of Blink’s car and started walking up to the school. Nothing about their figures made it seem like anything had changed between them, they were still walking beside each other and talking like last week never had happened. Then Blink caught eye with Romeo, and nudged Mush in the side. They both looked at Romeo for a second, and then walked up to him and Specs.

“Hey, Ro,” Mush said with a cheerful smile. “Can we talk to you for a minute?” 

Blink glanced at Specs. “Alone, preferably.”

The look Specs gave Romeo was hesitant, but Romeo waved it aside. “It’s fine,” he said. “I’ll see you at lunch.”

Specs nodded and gave the three of them a small smile before following the students walking into the school. 

“So,” Romeo started and sat down on the stone wall lining the pavement. “What’s up?”

“I think we’re the ones who should ask that,” Blink pointed out. 

Mush gave him a look. “Look,” he said and turned back to Romeo. “Last week, with all the gifts and stuff…”

“Oh, yeah,” Romeo said with a grin. “Those flowers were gorgeous, Blink. You ever figure out who sent them?”

“Yes, I did,” Blink said. “About the same time as I saw Specs’ car at the lake. You two are really bad at being subtle, you know that?”

Romeo gaped at him for a second before closing his mouth. So, the game was up. “Neither are you two!” he exclaimed with surprising force, making both Mush and Blink flinch. “You guys have been crushing on each other for ages, I had to do something about it. It was getting ridiculous, honestly.”

“No, ridiculous is finding twenty-something milky way-bars in your locker,” Mush said dryly. 

Romeo scoffed. “I was trying to help--”

“You didn’t understand the situation,” Mush interrupted him. “You can’t just assume things about us, Ro. You can’t assume we think like you and will react to things like this like you would.”

A silence spread out between them as Romeo tried to make sense of the words. “So, you two aren’t…?”

Mush and Blink exchanged quick glances and then looked away. “Well...” Blink mumbled and rubbed the back of his neck. “We, kind of, do like each other.” When Romeo’s face lit up he quickly shook his head. “We’re not dating, Ro.”

“You aren’t?”

Mush let out a sigh that was a bit like a laugh, as well. “Look, I’ve known Blink for almost five years. No one knows me like he does. I love him, and he loves me, and nothing’s worth the risk of losing that. Not even… Us dating. We were best friends before we began crushing on each other, and we will be best friends for a long time after. You understand?”

Romeo didn’t, really, but he didn’t really know what he didn’t understand, either. It was all a tumbled mess in his head. “So, you both knew that you liked each other?”

“Yeah, it was _obvious_ ,” Blink said and Mush snorted. “But, again, we decided months ago to just… Let it be.”

“But that’s stupid!” Romeo said, which, okay, wasn’t the smartest thing to ever come out of his mouth. “I mean, sorry, I…” He took a deep breath. “If you both like each other, why not try it out? I mean, what would be better than dating your best friend, really? What’s better than love?”

“Friendship?” Mush suggested with a raised eyebrow. “I know you don’t understand, we aren’t asking you to. We’re just asking you to respect it, and to let us deal with it. Okay?”

Romeo was quiet for a moment before slowly nodding. “So, the… gifts?” he asked tentatively. 

“Yeah, your gifts,” Blink said with a suddenly annoyed look. “It made us both think something had changed, and that the other one had… Well, changed his mind. It threw us both off.”

“It made me pissed, at first,” Mush relents. “And scared, honestly. That’s why we... ” He shrugged. “That’s why we both avoided eating lunch with all of you. We just needed some time for ourselves, to figure stuff out.”

“I still don’t get it,” Romeo said. “But, for what it’s worth… I’m sorry I butted in when I shouldn’t have. I know I can be… A lot, sometimes.”

Both Mush and Blink’s looks softened slightly. Mush sat down beside Romeo and put an arm around him, squeezing tight. “It’s okay,” he said. “We know you didn’t mean any harm.”

“And you being ‘a lot’ is one of the many reasons we like being your friend,” Blink said. “I promise. We’re not mad at you.”

Romeo nodded and took a shaky breath. The air filling his lungs had a calming effect, and he breathed deeply a few more times, just to get the jittery feeling of unease out of his body. When he was done he looked up at his friends again.

“We should go in,” Blink said and glanced at his phone. “First period began ten minutes ago.”

Romeo hadn’t even noticed the parking lot emptying, but when he glanced around he saw no one but the three of them. “Shit,” he said and stood up. “Yeah, let’s go.”

They started making their way into the school, hurrying to their lockers and getting their books. Blink went up the stairs to get to his class, while both Mush and Romeo waved at him and continued through the hall. As the two of them rounded a corner Mush spoke up with a small, teasing smile. “You know, I’m a bit surprised you can’t wrap your head around the fact that we want to deal with this whole thing by ourselves.”

“Why?” Romeo asked as he walked and put his books into his backpack at the same time. 

“Well, you’re kind of in the same position, right? Would you want us to tell you how you should deal with Specs’ crush on you?”

Romeo stopped dead in his tracks. The sound of his history book hitting the floor seemed to echo through the hallway, just like the ringing in his ear. He stared at Mush. 

“Specs has a crush on me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _This chapter is, like, barely edited but fuck it._
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it!

**Author's Note:**

> **okay before you drag me: I'm europan ok I can't be expected to be held accountable for inaccuracies when writing about american high school**
> 
> If you liked it, please leave kudos and a comment! 
> 
> Tumblr: @pizzas_will_rule_the_world


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